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Season 1

  • S01E01 Designing Women

    • September 29, 1986
    • CBS

    Suzanne visits a new gynecologist, Mary Jo's ex-husband Ted, and a maelstrom of emotions is unleashed when she announces she is dating him.

  • S01E02 The Beauty Contest

    • October 6, 1986
    • CBS

    Charlene sponsors Mary Jo's daughter in the Miss Pre-Teen Atlanta contest, and despite her depression over her own upcoming 30th birthday, Suzanne coaches Claudia on how to walk and smile.

  • S01E03 A Big Affair

    • October 20, 1986
    • CBS

    Suzanne's intimate dinner party, planned to impress an important client, goes awry before it begins when she arranges a date between a more-than-hefty man and a reluctant Charlene.

  • S01E04 Julia's Son

    • October 27, 1986
    • CBS

    Julia's nineteen-year-old son, Payne, is bringing his girlfriend home from college for a visit, and Julia wants everything to be perfect for her "baby." Payne then presents his girl, Primmie, who is tall, attractive...and forty years old!

  • S01E05 Mary Jo's First Date

    • November 3, 1986
    • CBS

    Concerned that Mary Jo hasn't dated since she and Ted broke up, Suzanne arranges a bind date for her with an old acquaintance, J.D. Shackelford, head scout for the Atlanta Braves baseball team, while Julia struggles through an I.R.S. audit conducted by the same Ray Don Simpson who tried to pick up the women at a restaurant and suffered a tonguelashing from Julia.

  • S01E06 Design House

    • November 17, 1986
    • CBS

    Since Suzanne has money invested in Sugarbaker's and is tired of her image as a front bimbo for the firm, Julia assigns her to do the decorating of their next project. Unfortunately, the house burns to the ground while Suzanne is working on it.

  • S01E07 Perky's Visit

    • November 24, 1986
    • CBS

    Perky Sugarbaker, Julia and Suzanne's mother, and her friend Bernice hope to escape the dull routine of their lives in the retirement home by joining the girls and their ex-con handyman Anthony for the festive occasion, considering it an exhilarating change.

  • S01E08 I Do, I Don't

    • December 4, 1986
    • CBS

    The dinner is perfect, the champagne flows, Julia is presented with a single rose, and on a lark she and her current beau Reese get married. The next morning both parties regret their hastiness, and Reese appears with annulment papers. An argument ensues, and Julia finally agrees to sign the papers, thereby annulling their marriage and their entire relationship.

  • S01E09 The IT Men

    • December 11, 1986
    • CBS

    When her boyfriend Mason takes a job in Japan, Charlene finds she has chemistry with another man, a man who happens to be married to one of the Sugarbaker clients.

  • S01E10 The Slumber Party

    • December 18, 1986
    • CBS

    Arriving at work one morning, Suzanne tells Julia, Mary Jo, and Charlene that when she tried to fire her maid, she put a voodoo death curse on her and proclaimed that Suzanne would be gone by midnight. Mary Jo invites Charlene, Julia and Suzanne to help her with Claudia's slumber party.

  • S01E11 New Year's Daze

    • January 1, 1987
    • CBS

    It is New Year's Eve, and everyone is dressed in their finery, anticipating a fun-filled night on the town. The identity of Charlene's date is kept secret until a news flash reports that the infamous "Shadow" is the subject of a massive manhunt.

  • S01E12 Old Spouses Never Die (Part 1)

    • February 1, 1987
    • CBS

    Mary Jo is brooding about her ex-husband's interference in her life, while Charlene distrusts her doctor's cavalier attitude toward the lump he found in her breast.

  • S01E13 Old Spouses Never Die (Part 2)

    • February 1, 1987
    • CBS

    Mary Jo finds the road to romance more than usually rocky and Charlene receives disturbing medical news.

  • S01E14 Monette

    • February 8, 1987
    • CBS

    When an old school chum of Charlene's, Monette, buys the old Chadwick mansion and asks Sugarbaker's to redecorate, the women are excited at the prospect of a most lucrative assignment - until they find out what the assignment REALLY is.

  • S01E15 And Justice For Paul

    • February 15, 1987
    • CBS

    Suzanne picks up a client who wants period furniture on a shoestring budget, and the Sugarbaker women, with the help of Charlene's new beau, find that antique furniture at bargain prices is no bargain when the furniture is stolen.

  • S01E16 Reese's Friend

    • February 22, 1987
    • CBS

    A disagreement over the theme for the annual country club fund-raiser has Julia and Suzanne at odds, but the quibbling is forgotten when Reese appears with a gorgeous young woman on his arm, explaining that she is a new attorney in his law firm.

  • S01E17 Nashville Bound

    • March 16, 1987
    • CBS

    The news that Charlene's family, including all ten brothers and sisters, will be in town at the same time is overshadowed by the news that she is going to become a recording star after being discovered by a Nashville producer.

  • S01E18 Oh, Suzannah

    • March 23, 1987
    • CBS

    While in Reese's office to sign legal papers, Suzanne off-handedly volunteers to keep a Vietnamese boat child, Li Sing, who is being adopted but needs an interim home for the next four weeks while final papers are being completed. Suzanne becomes attached to Li Sing quickly and doesn't want to give her over to her new family

  • S01E19 Mary Jo's Dad Dates Charlene

    • April 6, 1987
    • CBS

    When Mary Jo's divorced father arrives in Atlanta for a four-day visit and dances cheek to cheek with Charlene, Mary Jo becomes very protective.

  • S01E20 Seams From a Marriage

    • April 13, 1987
    • CBS

    When Anthony saunters into the shop wearing an enormous cowboy hat, he is followed by a breathless Mary Jo, who has obviously been out all night as she is wearing the same clothes she had on when she left the day before. This leaves everyone clamoring for an explanation. It seems their appointment with Sugarbaker's newest client turned into an all-night bash, complete with Cajun buffet and country-western band

  • S01E21 Grand Slam, Thank You Ma'am

    • May 4, 1987
    • CBS

    Suzanne's baseball player ex-husband, Jack Dent, writes in his autobiography that he had more groupie action than all the rock-n-roll bands in North America, and Suzanne vows revenge

  • S01E22 Bachelor Suite

    • May 11, 1987
    • CBS

    When Mary Jo undertakes the decoration of Hence Winchester's new home, she finds herself the object of sexual harassment by her wealthy client.

Season 2

  • S02E01 101 Ways to Decorate a Gas Station

    • September 14, 1987
    • CBS

    A scruffy gas-station owner wins free interior decoration from Sugarbakers, Charlene consults a psychic about her future.

  • S02E02 Ted Remarries (Ted and Tammy)

    • September 21, 1987
    • CBS

    Mary Jo can't face her children being with her ex-husband's new wife, who is spoiling them.

  • S02E03 Anthony, Jr.

    • September 28, 1987
    • CBS

    Anthony goes to extremes to impress his girlfriends' wealthy parents, inventing a pedigreed family -- then an uninvited dinner guest informs him he is the father of her child.

  • S02E04 Killing All the Right People

    • October 5, 1987
    • CBS

    News that a friend and fellow decorator is dying of AIDS (and wants Sugarbakers to design his funeral) gets Mary Jo fired up at a PTA debate on sex education and contraception.

  • S02E05 Half an Air Bubble Off

    • October 19, 1987
    • CBS

    When an eccentric client harasses the women with bizarre decorating requests, they decide to matchmake him with Bernice.

  • S02E06 Dash Goff, the Writer

    • October 26, 1987
    • CBS

    Suzanne's visiting ex, a novelist who loves flowery Southern words and women, is in a writer's slump and contemplating suicide.

  • S02E07 Heart Attacks

    • November 9, 1987
    • CBS

    Reese's fitness demonstration - arm wrestling an old buddy and sometime-rival -- causes a heart attack, and subsequent different treatment from Julia.

  • S02E08 Cruising

    • November 16, 1987
    • CBS

    Suzanne and Mary Jo become romantic rivals while doing a job aboard a cruise ship.

  • S02E09 I'll Be Seeing You

    • November 23, 1987
    • CBS

    Charlene dreams the Sugarbakers back to WWII and the USO.

  • S02E10 Stranded

    • December 7, 1987
    • CBS

    While Charlene, Julia and Mary Jo get the flu on a trip to St. Louis, a snowstorm forces Suzanne and Anthony to share a motel room in Tennessee.

  • S02E11 Howard the Date

    • December 14, 1987
    • CBS

    It's the mercy date from Hell when the female Sugarbakers staff accompany dateless Howard the nerd to his high-school reunion. Their sympathy quickly wears off when he begins to boast about handling his "four women."

  • S02E12 I'll Be Home For Christmas

    • December 21, 1987
    • CBS

    Charlene and Anthony scheme to outsmart Mary Jo's disbelieving son on Christmas Eve -- until their hired Santa beats them to it, by swiping the Sugarbakers' Christmas gifts.

  • S02E13 Great Expectations

    • January 4, 1988
    • CBS

    Anthony is dismayed when an old prison cellmate arrives at Sugarbaker's with a business proposition -- he wants Anthony to become his partner.

  • S02E14 Second Time Around

    • January 11, 1988
    • CBS

    Charlene withdraws after being dumped by her boyfriend Bill, who is still grieving the loss of his first wife.

  • S02E15 Oh, Brother

    • January 18, 1988
    • CBS

    Julia and Suzanne disagree on how to handle the arrival of their half-brother, a recently discharged mental patient with aspirations to stand-up comedy.

  • S02E16 There's Some Black People Coming to Dinner

    • January 25, 1988
    • CBS

    Mary Jo gives Claudia permission to go to a school dance with a black youth, contrary to his father's wishes.

  • S02E17 The Return of Ray Don

    • February 1, 1988
    • CBS

    A penniless Suzanne faces stiff fines for back taxes, so after trying to charm Ray Don at the IRS, she sells off her possession and considers marriage to wealthy octogenarian Wilmont Oliver.

  • S02E18 High Rollers

    • February 8, 1988
    • CBS

    After Charlene unwittingly puts a bug in Suzanne's ear by relating the success story of Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express, Suzanne flits off to Atlantic City with Charlene and Anthony in hopes of winning a bundle to pay off debts by employing Anthony's gambling expertise.

  • S02E19 The Incredibly Elite Bona Fide Blue-Blood Beaumont Driving Club

    • February 15, 1988
    • CBS

    Suzanne and Julia clash over a posh club's offer of membership when Suzanne discovers discrimination in the club's by laws.

  • S02E20 How Great Thou Art

    • February 22, 1988
    • CBS

    Scruples cause Charlene to resign from her church after she loses faith in her minister when he votes against allowing women in the ministry.

  • S02E21 Ted-Bare

    • March 21, 1988
    • CBS

    On the brink of marrying a young woman, Ted begins to appreciate ex-wife Mary Jo's maturity, but his sudden attentiveness strikes everyone else as suspicious.

  • S02E22 Reservations for Eight

    • March 28, 1988
    • CBS

    A romantic ski weekend becomes a battle of the sexes when an avalanche sidelines the Sugarbakers ladies and their boyfriends.

Season 3

  • S03E01 Reservations for 12, Plus Ursula

    • November 14, 1988
    • CBS

    A voluptuous maid disrupts a romantic Thanksgiving at the beach.

  • S03E02 The Candidate

    • November 21, 1988
    • CBS

    Julia runs for a seat on the local board of commissioners, but her outspokenness may cost her the election.

  • S03E03 E.P. Phone Home

    • November 28, 1988
    • CBS

    While touring Graceland on VIP tickets, Julia is touched when a truck driver tells how the King influenced his life.

  • S03E04 Getting Married and Eating Dirt

    • December 5, 1988
    • CBS

    Bernice asks the ladies to be her wedding attendants when she receives a marriage proposal from a TV pitchman -- who habitually proposes to every woman he meets.

  • S03E05 Big Haas and Little Falsie

    • December 12, 1988
    • CBS

    Mary-Jo contemplates breast enlargement after receiving an inheritance from her uncle Dude stipulating that she must spend it on something frivolous.

  • S03E06 Hard Hats and Lovers

    • December 19, 1988
    • CBS

    Suzanne convinces Charlene that Bill should date more before they get serious, and the ladies plan revenge on a bunch of sexist hardhats working across the street.

  • S03E07 Curtains

    • January 2, 1989
    • CBS

    Striking laborers from a textile factory besiege the company, and the Sugarbakers women come to respect them for surviving their terrible working conditions.

  • S03E08 The Wilderness Experience

    • January 9, 1989
    • CBS

    The women embark on a wilderness survival course designed to build leadership -- but it's first-time camper Bernice who ultimately takes command.

  • S03E09 Tyrone

    • January 16, 1989
    • CBS

    Acting as surrogate brother a troubled youth, Anthony remembers his own painful childhood, and when Julia puts her trust in Anthony's juvenile charge, it only gets her photo on the evening news.

  • S03E10 Mr. Bailey

    • January 23, 1989
    • CBS

    The designers are determined that a recently deceased client's last wish be honored -- to leave her millions (and the ladies' prepaid services) to her cat.

  • S03E11 The Naked Truth

    • February 13, 1989
    • CBS

    Mary Jo, Charlene and Anthony feign nonchalance at a nudist colony, the Sugarbakers' nieces visit.

  • S03E12 The Junies

    • February 20, 1989
    • CBS

    Charlene becomes a part-time saleswoman for "Lady Jun" cleaning products, and when she repeatedly succumbs to psychological pressure from her friend Libby despite her stated intention to quit, Julia determines to rescue her from this "cult" -- and winds up taking on Lady Jun herself. Meanwhile, Anthony receives an unusual nomination from his junior college -- as homecoming queen -- and gets unexpected support from Suzanne.

  • S03E13 One Sees, the Other Doesn't

    • February 27, 1989
    • CBS

    Suzanne didn't spend one week and $2,000 at a spa to be asked out by a blind client who can't appreciate her radiance -- especially since she finds it difficult to believe that he is attracted by her personality.

  • S03E14 Odell

    • March 6, 1989
    • CBS

    Sugarbakers becomes the site of a Southern family feud after Charlene's brother arrives and announces he is marrying the daughter of a longtime family rival, Anthony partners Bernice in a dance contest.

  • S03E15 Full Moon

    • March 13, 1989
    • CBS

    A full moon coincides with strange occurrences, including Mary Jo's sudden conviction that Claudia and her boyfriend are up to no good.

  • S03E16 Mr. Meal Ticket

    • March 20, 1989
    • CBS

    Mary-Jo overreacts to J.D.'s losing his job and moving in with her, but a psychic helps her sort out her feelings.

  • S03E17 The Engagement

    • March 27, 1989
    • CBS

    Charlene, now happily engaged, dreads meeting Bill's intimidating mother and aunt, Mary Jo gives the dating game another try, with a much younger man.

  • S03E18 Come On and Marry Me, Bill

    • April 10, 1989
    • CBS

    Charlene's wedding is in jeopardy when she finds Bill handcuffed to a scantily clad dancer after his stag party.

  • S03E19 The Women of Atlanta

    • May 1, 1989
    • CBS

    A photographer shooting a magazine spread on the women of Atlanta asks the decorators to participate, but they become suspicious when he keeps encouraging sexier poses.

  • S03E20 Stand and Fight

    • May 8, 1989
    • CBS

    When Mary Jo is mugged, the Sugarbaker women take a self-defense course.

  • S03E21 The Last Humorously-Dressed Bellboy in America

    • May 15, 1989
    • CBS

    When she discovers him working as a bellboy/pianist, the accountant who absconded with her life savings offers Suzanne a deal.

  • S03E22 Julia Drives Over the First Amendment

    • May 22, 1989
    • CBS

    A nearby newsstand selling pornography offends Julia, to the point where she drives her car straight through it, and pits her against an equally determined publisher in the ensuing court battle.

Season 4

  • S04E01 The Proxy Pig

    • September 18, 1989
    • CBS

    Mary Jo uses the mansion she's decorating to entertain, and Anthony suffers when his health insurance lapses and Suzanne must nurse his injured back.

  • S04E02 One Night With You

    • September 25, 1989
    • CBS

    A terminally-ill high school classmate's last wish is to spend one night with the girl of his dreams -- Julia. The catch is, she doesn't remember him at all.

  • S04E03 There She Is

    • October 2, 1989
    • CBS

    While preparing for Charlene's baby shower, the Sugarbakers women are surprised by a visit from the Director of Pageants for Miss Georgia. Due to a clerical error discovered in the 1975 balloting, Suzanne must relinquish the crown she won 15 years earlier.

  • S04E04 Nightmare from Hee Haw

    • October 16, 1989
    • CBS

    The Sugerbaker women and their mates take a canoe trip in the Georgia backwoods -- which turns into a nightmare when them encounter some good ole boys.

  • S04E05 The Girlfriend

    • October 23, 1989
    • CBS

    Attempting to prove himself when Mary Jo hires him and some of his ex-convict friends to finish an incomplete remodeling job, Anthony gets a new girlfriend -- an ambitious young woman who sees him as an upwardly mobile vehicle.

  • S04E06 The Rowdy Girls

    • October 30, 1989
    • CBS

    While she is helping the Sugarbakers women choreograph a Supremes lip-synch routine, Charlene's favorite cousin inadvertently reveals that she is a victim of domestic violence.

  • S04E07 Bernice's Sanity Hearing

    • November 13, 1989
    • CBS

    The Sugarbaker women testify for Bernice when her niece Phyllis attempts to have her declared legally incompetent because she sings Bobbie Gentry songs to strangers on the street and introduces Anthony as her illegitimate son.

  • S04E08 Julia Gets Her Head Stuck in a Fence

    • November 20, 1989
    • CBS

    While posing for a gag photo at the governor's mansion, Julia gets her head stuck in the banister just before the annual ball.

  • S04E09 Julia and Suzanne's Big Adventure

    • November 27, 1989
    • CBS

    Julia and Suzanne's plans go awry when they travel to Japan to visit their mother: after discovering that she has gone to Paris to see a sick friend, they are robbed of their luggage and money. Meanwhile, Anthony and Mary Jo are stuck with an enormous telephone bill after calling in votes to a television poll.

  • S04E10 Manhunt

    • December 4, 1989
    • CBS

    Desperately single Mary Jo, worried that her busy schedule will condemn her to a life alone, accepts coaching from Suzanne as she plans a weekend manhunt.

  • S04E11 They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?

    • December 11, 1989
    • CBS

    Fat as a feminist issue surfaces when Suzanne endures cruel jokes about her weight at her high-school reunion; Anthony enlists Julia and Mary Jo to join him in a two-day fast to focus attention on world hunger.

  • S04E12 You Got to Have Friends

    • December 18, 1989
    • CBS

    Mary Jo takes a second job at a fast food place when Ted's child support payment is late.

  • S04E13 The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (1)

    • January 1, 1990
    • CBS

    Suzanne and Mary Jo rush Charlene to the hospital when she goes into labor on New Year's Eve and conceives a desire to deliver the first New Year's baby. Dolly Parton plays Charlene's "guardian movie star," who comes to her in a dream with news of her baby's birth, and Bernice goes for an unexpected ambulance ride.

  • S04E14 The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century (2)

    • January 1, 1990
    • CBS
  • S04E15 The Mistress

    • January 8, 1990
    • CBS

    The ladies are hired by wealthy stockbroker Ancel Pollard to decorate a house for a client's wife -- and a condo for his mistress. Suzanne is sure that straight laced Julia and Mary Jo will never go through with the assignment.

  • S04E16 The Fur Flies

    • January 15, 1990
    • CBS

    The fur flies at a fashion show, where Suzanne's after-dinner mink causes a riot among animal-rights activists. Meanwhile, Charlene is forced to bring Olivia to Sugarbakers while she looks for a nanny.

  • S04E17 Oh, What a Feeling

    • January 29, 1990
    • CBS

    Julia and Suzanne negotiate for a new delivery van and drive a hard bargain with an overbearing salesman (Ross).

  • S04E18 Anthony and Vanessa

    • February 5, 1990
    • CBS

    Hired for a temporary job at Sugarbakers, Anthony's needy friend Vanessa learns the tricks of the trade from Suzanne, then goes to work reeling in Anthony.

  • S04E19 Payne Grows Up

    • February 19, 1990
    • CBS

    Julia is not pleased to learn that Payne is graduating early in order to marry his pregnant girlfriend. Upset at becoming a grandmother so soon, Julia gets tipsy at the wedding, then wakes up mortified -- and scantily clad -- the next day with Payne's frat house roommate (Young).

  • S04E20 Tornado Watch

    • February 26, 1990
    • CBS

    A bizarre collection of characters is trapped inside Sugarbakers by a tornado warning, including hillbilly Daddy Jones who takes a liking to Bernice.

  • S04E21 Tough Enough

    • March 12, 1990
    • CBS

    A redecorating job for a sports account is right down Sugarbakers' alley when it pits the women against a macho, over-confident designer from an all-male firm. They determine to steal one of his prized clients, Cherokee Lanes Bowling Alley, but discover they must pose as regular bowlers.

  • S04E22 It's a Wonderful Life

    • March 19, 1990
    • CBS

    Charlene is overcome with feelings of self-doubt after the birth of Olivia, and her highly emotional state has her believing that Bill is having an affair. When Suzanne, Julia and Mary Jo overhear their fight, they scramble to create a romantic evening that will put some romance back into the Stillfield marriage.

  • S04E23 Suzanne Goes Looking for a Friend

    • April 9, 1990
    • CBS

    A former beauty queen and current television weather forecaster announces her "coming out," causing a confused Suzanne to think she means she's the world's oldest debutante -- and to accept Eugenia's invitation to join her at a television industry dinner.

  • S04E24 Foreign Affairs

    • April 30, 1990
    • CBS

    When her maid Consuela is threatened with deportation, Suzanne puts Anthony in a dress and pays him to impersonate the terrified woman. But he performs too well, awakening romantic interest in the Immigration and Naturalization Service examiner.

  • S04E25 Have Faith

    • May 7, 1990
    • CBS

    When Mary Jo attends church with Julia and Suzanne, she ends up dating Gene Chapman, the minister, but feeling guilty about her sexual interest in him.

  • S04E26 Their Finest Hour

    • May 9, 1990
    • CBS

    An hour-long clip show of highlights from the previous seasons, including: razor-tongued Julia standing up for Suzanne against an insolent beauty pageant contestant, Julia defending Bernice's eccentricities, Mary Jo commenting on men and bra sizes, Charlene wondering about everything from killer bees to the personal habits of other women, Suzanne displaying a series of wacky dresses, and Anthony being plagued by a variety of indignities.

  • S04E27 Anthony's Graduation

    • May 14, 1990
    • CBS

    An extremely anxious Anthony makes it to his college graduation despite a series of mishaps and his nervousness about his grandmother's visit and his performance as commencement speaker.

  • S04E28 La Place sans Souci

    • May 21, 1990
    • CBS

    At a plush spa, the sparse diet, vigorous exercise program and thermal mud baths bring out the worst in Suzanne -- especially when Julia and Mary Jo are encouraged to gain weight.

Season 5

  • S05E01 A Blast from the Past

    • September 17, 1990
    • CBS

    Sugarbaker's is beset by tourists when the building's Civil War foundation puts it on the Tour of Historical Homes, Mary Jo opens her heart to an old friend eager to make good on a marriage pact they once entered into.

  • S05E02 Papa Was a Rolling Stone

    • September 24, 1990
    • CBS

    Charlene aims to make Anthony's 30th birthday a memorable one -- by hiring a private detective to find his long-lost father.

  • S05E03 Working Mother

    • October 1, 1990
    • CBS

    Resentment builds between Charlene and Mary Jo when Charlene wants to take a year off to look after her baby. The decorators cater to the whims of a rich, insufferable 10-year-old client as Mary Jo and Charlene ponder the joys and pitfalls of working mothers.

  • S05E04 Miss Trial

    • October 15, 1990
    • CBS

    Julia's dinner plans with former President Jimmy Carter and his wife are put on hold when her slow-moving jury gets sequestered.

  • S05E05 The Bachelor Auction

    • October 22, 1990
    • CBS

    When organizational confusion leads to Suzanne winning a date with Anthony in a bachelor charity auction, the two reluctantly try to make the best of a very awkward situation.

  • S05E06 Charlene Buys a House

    • October 29, 1990
    • CBS

    As the proud new owner of a grand but ghostly mansion, Charlene hires the decorators to give the place a facelift -- not mentioning that it's haunted.

  • S05E07 Old Rebels and Young Models

    • November 5, 1990
    • CBS

    Charlene's baby, Olivia, auditions for a modeling job, Mary Jo finds one of her former teachers in a nursing home.

  • S05E08 Nowhere to Run To

    • November 12, 1990
    • CBS

    Mary Jo takes up jogging, and inadvertently helps turn Julia into a fitness zealot.

  • S05E09 A Class Act

    • November 19, 1990
    • CBS

    Anthony buys in to become a full partner; new student Charlene fends off an amorous psychology professor.

  • S05E10 Keep the Home Fires Burning

    • November 26, 1990
    • CBS

    With her husband away on a mission, Charlene guiltily draws close to a man in her support group for military spouses who wife is also away. Meanwhile, lottery fever sweeps Sugarbakers.

  • S05E11 My Daughter, Myself

    • December 10, 1990
    • CBS

    Mary Jo forbids her nearly 18-year-old daughter to date a 34-year-old, then dates him herself, Julia is forced to crash the men's room at a football stadium.

  • S05E12 And Now, Here's Bernice

    • December 17, 1990
    • CBS

    After Bernice gets a local public-access cable TV show, Mary Jo has her heart broken by a client and decides that Bernice's show is the ideal arena to air her views on men.

  • S05E13 Pearls of Wisdom

    • January 7, 1991
    • CBS

    Mary Jo borrows and loses a string of pearls flaunted by Suzanne, subbing as a lifestyles reporter for local TV news. Meanwhile, a recurring dream about Julia upsets Anthony.

  • S05E14 High Noon in a Laundry Room

    • January 14, 1991
    • CBS

    Anthony, concerned with his masculinity after working with the women so long, tries standing up to his bullying neighbor, and is further humiliated when the women come to his rescue.

  • S05E15 How Long Has This Been Going On?

    • January 28, 1991
    • CBS

    Everyone at Sugarbakers is baffled to discover that sensible Julia has covertly been singing evenings at a nightclub, Anthony tries to muster the nerve to ask out a girl who works at the bookstore.

  • S05E16 The Emperor's New Nose

    • February 4, 1991
    • CBS

    Bernice gets an extraordinarily bad eye tuck and rhinoplasty from a plastic surgeon whose work leaves something to be desired.

  • S05E17 Maybe, Baby

    • February 11, 1991
    • CBS

    Mary Jo, wanting a baby, turns to her friend and former beau; Suzanne takes up smoking as a way to diet.

  • S05E18 This is Art?

    • February 25, 1991
    • CBS

    Amateur painter Julia inadvertently becomes the darling of Atlanta's art scene when someone tries to buy her handbag while she's attending a gallery opening; Suzanne inadvertently glues her lips shut.

  • S05E19 Blame it on New Orleans

    • March 4, 1991
    • CBS

    When the gang attends a convention in intoxicating New Orleans, Mary Jo unwittingly sleeps with a married man.

  • S05E20 I'll See You in Court

    • March 18, 1991
    • CBS

    Mary Jo runs across the man who mugged her the year before, but faces horrendous judicial red tape to bring him to trial.

  • S05E21 The Big Circle

    • April 8, 1991
    • CBS

    Julia tries coping with her boyfriend Reese's death by looking after Randa Oliver, the supremely spoiled child of a client couple on an extended vacation.

  • S05E22 Friends and Husbands

    • April 29, 1991
    • CBS

    Charlene, readjusting to married life upon Bill's return from the Middle East, quits her and Mary Jo's children's-book project.

  • S05E23 Fore!

    • May 6, 1991
    • CBS

    Suzanne is jealous when Anthony is invited to be the first black (i.e., token) in the previously all-white Beaumont Country Club.

  • S05E24 The Pride of Sugarbakers

    • May 13, 1991
    • CBS

    Mary Jo and Julia demonstrate different coaching styles when their firm sponsors a Little League team.

Season 6

  • S06E01 The Big Desk (1)

    • September 16, 1991
    • CBS

    Cousin Alison Sugarbaker buys out Suzanne's share of the business and then moves in, complete with an enormous desk and a take-charge attitude, Charlene's divorcing younger sister Carlene arrives.

  • S06E02 The Big Desk (2)

    • September 16, 1991
    • CBS

  • S06E03 A Toe in the Water

    • September 23, 1991
    • CBS

    Julia thinks she's ready to resume dating, but Alison disagrees, questioning the manliness of Julia's new beau. Meanwhile, Allison and Anthony continue to bicker about who owns Suzanne's house, until Anthony obtains an affidavit asserting his right to occupy the house -- and allows Allison to stay on only as her personal servant.

  • S06E04 Dwayne's World

    • September 30, 1991
    • CBS

    Mary Jo protectively takes divorcee Carlene under her wing -- going overboard with a lie about Carlene's latest flame -- when ex-hubby Dwayne shows up to sweep Carlene off her feet again.

  • S06E05 Marriage Most Foul

    • October 7, 1991
    • CBS

    When Allison's ex-convict former flame (whom she turned in for insider trading) is released, she fears he is plotting revenge, instead, he proposes to her.

  • S06E06 Picking a Winner

    • October 14, 1991
    • CBS

    Mary Jo turns to a sperm bank to get pregnant, prompting mixed reactions at work. Meanwhile, Julia threaten to rip the draperies from the windows of the home of a wealthy client whose payment is overdue.

  • S06E07 Last Tango in Atlanta

    • October 21, 1991
    • CBS

    When the Sugarbakers women are persuaded by Anthony to help with an outreach program at his former prison, they find themselves in the middle of a prison break and are held hostage by Anthony's old cellmate T. Tommy Reed -- who takes a liking to Allison.

  • S06E08 The Strange Case of Clarence and Anita

    • November 4, 1991
    • CBS

    Perhaps the most famous episode, and a rare instance of a situation comedy making direct political comment on a current issue. The Sugarbakers women take sides on the controversial confirmation hearings of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill's accusation of sexual harassment: Mary Jo and Julia side with Hill and Allison with Thomas. Conflict spills over into Allison's birthday party, where Mary Jo and Julia turn up in costume just in time to hear a television interview about the hearings with Allison.

  • S06E09 Just Say Doe

    • November 11, 1991
    • CBS

    When Mary Jo's womanizing brother visits, falls for Allison, and takes her and Quinton on a deer-hunting trip, the women secretly tag along.

  • S06E10 Julia and Rusty, Sittin' in a Tree

    • November 18, 1991
    • CBS

    Julia's second date with electrician Rusty becomes a group outing with Carlene and Allison dating junior-college guys, and Anthony tagging along to the drive-in with Bernice to keep an eye on things.

  • S06E11 Julia and Mary Jo Get Stuck Under a Bed

    • December 2, 1991
    • CBS

    Mary Jo and Julia are trapped under anchorman Chuck Tremain's bed when a Christmas design contest inspires them to examine a competitor's handiwork for evidence of plagiarism.

  • S06E12 Real, Scary Men

    • December 9, 1991
    • CBS

    When their van breaks down the women become unwelcome guests at a men's club retreat Wildman Sanctuary, where Anthony is trying to land a new account.

  • S06E13 Tales Out of School

    • December 16, 1991
    • CBS

    Anthony sees opportunity when his normally unfriendly law professor is attracted to Carlene and invites the two of them to his annual Christmas party.

  • S06E14 Driving My Mama Back Home

    • January 6, 1992
    • CBS

    Julia accompanies Mary Jo and her mother Darla on an overnight bus trip back to South Carolina; meanwhile, the other employees get locked into the storage room while doing inventory.

  • S06E15 Payne Comes Home

    • January 13, 1992
    • CBS

    Julia delights in the opportunity to dote on son Payne when he returns for a visit -- which Julia learns will be permanent.

  • S06E16 Carlene's Apartment

    • January 20, 1992
    • CBS

    Carlene moves into her own apartment on the wrong side of town, where space is at a minimum and burglars roam free, so the Sugarbakers staff visit to try to persuade her to find a better home.

  • S06E17 Mamed

    • February 3, 1992
    • CBS

    A tough-talking, hard-drinking, temperamental Broadway has-been promises to make Julia rue the day that she stole the role of Mame from her in Anthony's community-theater production. But on opening night she is too drunk to perform and Anthony is pressed into taking on the role.

  • S06E18 A Scene From a Mall

    • February 24, 1992
    • CBS

    Julia stages a sit-in at the mall to protest racial mistreatment of Anthony by brutish cops who accosted him for window shopping near a jewelry store -- and television coverage links Anthony romantically with Allison.

  • S06E19 All About Odes to Atlanta

    • March 2, 1992
    • CBS

    Songwriter Carlene gains notoriety -- and her first groupie -- by entering her ditty in the semi-finals Atlanta's theme-song contest, where she performs with Mary Jo and Julia, all decked out in "big hair" and costumes.

  • S06E20 I Enjoy Being a Girl

    • March 9, 1992
    • CBS

    On an overnight Girl Scout outing, Carlene's leadership abilities take a beating, while Allison's methods seem to charm the spoiled troopers, and Mary Jo and Julia advocate roughing it.

  • S06E21 L.A. Story

    • March 23, 1992
    • CBS

    Allison thinks she's invited to stay at Charles Nelson Reilly's home, so the decorators do Hollywood and get flimflammed on an expenses-paid trip accompanying investor Allison to the set of her movie.

  • S06E22 A Little Night Music

    • April 27, 1992
    • CBS

    Julia strolls down memory lane while awaiting the results of hysterectomy tests at a hospital whose workers are on strike, and a surgeon turns out to be her prescription for romance.

  • S06E23 Shades of Vanessa

    • May 4, 1992
    • CBS

    The Sugarbakers women use Anthony as "date bait" to reel in a big account involving a hotelier's flamboyant debutante daughter, who's angling for a whopper of a deal, then Anthony announces he is marrying Vanessa, who intends to become a partner in Sugarbakers.

Season 7

  • S07E01 Of Human Bondage

    • September 25, 1992
    • CBS

    After cousin Allison leaves Sugarbakers, Julia needs cash but is refused a bank loan. To cheer themselves up, the women play poker with a wealthy client -- who wins the business from them. Sugarbaker's could use an infusion of cash, and at a rowdy party given by potential new client B.J., the gals kick up their heels in wild abandon.

  • S07E02 Sex and the Single Woman

    • October 2, 1992
    • CBS

    Carlene allows herself to be seduced by her ex-husband, then admits she was just using him for sex.

  • S07E03 Mary Jo vs. the Terminator

    • October 16, 1992
    • CBS

    After Julia completely rewrites a letter Mary Jo asked her to proofread, Mary Jo comes unraveled on a fashion-show runway, where she just plain has her fill of know-it-all Julia. Meanwhile, back at the office, B.J. has her hands full with angry vegetarians.

  • S07E04 On the Road Again

    • October 23, 1992
    • CBS

    In an attempt at spontaneity, a carefree Mary Jo takes off for Nashville on "a hen party on wheels" with Julia and Bernice, but become terrified when a trucker Bernice flirted with at a diner pursues them. Meanwhile, back at the office, Carlene and Anthony put their noses to the grindstone studying for midterms.

  • S07E05 Screaming Passages

    • October 30, 1992
    • CBS

    Julia fears the emotional roller coaster of menopause -- just as her affair with Phillip heats up, and is upset when she discovers a Sugerbakers "Change of Life" surprise party.

  • S07E06 Viva Las Vegas (1)

    • November 6, 1992
    • CBS

    After Vanessa calls off their wedding, Anthony joins the gang on a getaway to Las Vegas, where he nurses his broken heart -- in the company of a show stopping showgirl he impulsively weds.

  • S07E07 Fools Rush In (2)

    • November 13, 1992
    • CBS

    BJ offers to help a desperate Anthony, who invents various schemes to extricate himself from his hasty marriage to a Las Vegas showgirl.

  • S07E08 Love Letters

    • November 20, 1992
    • CBS

    A steamy love letter from another woman found in James' safe-deposit box shatters B.J.'s image of her late husband as a faithful companion worthy of her trust. Meanwhile, reveling in the destruction of her old car, a symbol of her days as a suburban housewife, Mary Jo goes wild in a new red convertible.

  • S07E09 The Vision Thing

    • December 4, 1992
    • CBS

    Etienne drives Anthony crazy trying to be the perfect wife, and the Sugarbakers crew throw a Las Vegas style wedding shower for them.

  • S07E10 Trial and Error

    • December 11, 1992
    • CBS

    B.J. goes overboard showering everyone with gifts, and law student Anthony gets carried away trying to help Mary Jo win a small-claims case involving her defective freezer.

  • S07E11 Too Dumb to Date

    • January 8, 1993
    • CBS

    Mary Jo dates a handsome idiot, a to-die-for toyboy male model who seems to have few toys in the attic and little in common with her.

  • S07E12 The Odyssey

    • January 15, 1993
    • CBS

    B.J.'s contribution to the Democratic Party gets the Sugarbaker crew invited to the Inaugural Ball, but the trip proves to be a party for no one, even Julia, who struggles to maintain a cheery disposition in the face of disaster as bad weather forces a change in plans.

  • S07E13 Oh Dog, Poor Dog

    • January 22, 1993
    • CBS

    After eye surgery, Bernice overhears the gals talk of putting Mary Jo's dog out of its misery and figures they're planning her own mercy killing, so she barricades herself inside the storeroom. Meanwhile, Julia gets caught listing to a London phone line which plays tapes of Princess Diana's private conversations with her boyfriend.

  • S07E14 Wedding Redux

    • February 5, 1993
    • CBS

    Anthony and Etienne renew their vows for Etienne's visiting parents and Anthony's grandmother at a ceremony at B.J.'s, where anything that could go wrong does.

  • S07E15 Nude Julia, New York Morning

    • February 12, 1993
    • CBS

    Julia's old mentor for her bohemian art school days in New York unveils his nude portrait of Julia.

  • S07E16 Sex, Lies and Bad Hair Days

    • March 5, 1993
    • CBS

    B.J.'s dating adventures take a turn for the worse on her birthday, when a bad-hair day and two miserable blind dates have her vowing to give up men, so Julia tries to cheer her up by getting her a date with a really nice fellow.

  • S07E17 Shovel Off to Buffalo

    • March 12, 1993
    • CBS

    Worshiping hordes gather outside Sugarbaker's after the face of Elvis mysteriously appears on a snow shovel belonging to Mary Jo, who attracts the attention of a "paraspectacular" expert (Gilpin) -- especially when she apparently restores her neighbor's damaged hearing.

  • S07E18 It's Not So Easy Being Green

    • April 2, 1993
    • CBS

    Anthony is jealous of Etienne's successful writer friend, who shares a vivid past with her, but tries to be gracious by throwing a signing party for him.

  • S07E19 The Woman Who Came to Sugarbakers

    • April 30, 1993
    • CBS

    A visit from Julia's meddlesome former schoolmistress is extended -- on ghostly instructions from her deceased husband, it turns out -- until the desperate Sugarbakers women hold a seance to try to force her to leave.

  • S07E20 The Lying Game

    • May 7, 1993
    • CBS

    There's no skirting the fact that Carlene is confused by new beau Eric (Kean), whose unusual habit (cross-dressing) she begins to understand only by tapping into her own masculine side.

  • S07E21 Gone With the Whim (1)

    • May 24, 1993
    • CBS

    With Sugarbaker's in such bad financial shape, the ladies are grateful when B. J. gets them a job redecorating a house that resembles the great home from Gone With The Wind --- until they find out that the new lady of the house plans to rip out the grand staircase and replace it with an elevator. To make matters worse, B. J. finds out that their client is trying to take over Poteet Industries and plans to give Sugarbaker's to his young bride Kiki --- renaming it "Kikibaker's".

  • S07E22 Gone With the Whim (2)

    • May 24, 1993
    • CBS

    With Julia continuing to fight to save the antebellum Kearney mansion, B.J. struggles to save Sugarbaker's and Poteet Industries from a take over from the Kearneys. However, despite their efforts, Kiki Kearney announces her new plans for "Kikibaker's," Lester Kearney announces that the purchase of Poteet Industries is complete, and the modernizing of the mansion gets under way. Though Anthony and the women are fired for insubordination, when Craig, a friend of Mary Jo's, stumbles on some embarrassing news about the Kearney's illegal financial activities, Poteet Industries and Sugarbaker's are saved from the take over.

Additional Specials

  • SPECIAL 0x1 Designing Women Reunion

    • July 28, 2003
    • Lifetime

    Delta Burke, Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, Jean Smart and Meshach Taylor reunited to share behind-the-scenes memories from their time on the series. Included are topics such as initial casting, favorite episodes, how the women met their real-life husbands on the show, and of course, "when Delta was crazy." Clips from many episodes are showcased, as well as new interviews with additional cast members, crew members and others associated with the world of television.

  • SPECIAL 0x2 Designing Women: A Reunion

    • January 1, 2006
    • CBS

    Revisiting the show as part of the Fearless Women Seminar series sponsored by the Paley Center for Media in 2006